24 Hours
by Lady Legend Titan
Summary: Darren Criss is on a short break from Glee and he decides to go to Chicago to visit his good friend Meredith Stepien. But when they're stuck in her apartment for the next 24 hours during a rain storm, feelings are tested and their relationship is pushed past the point of no return. For GinnyGirl998 {DARREDITH}
1. Blanket Forts

**A lovely chapter story dedicated to GinnyGirl998 (originally going to be a oneshot but it became way too long for that!). It's Darredith, so be warned. Hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Team StarKid, Darren Criss, Meredith Stepien, or a pair of pink Wayfarers. I do own two pairs of pink Wayfarers though ;)**

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_11:00 A.M._

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Meredith Stepien opened the door to her apartment to see Darren Criss darkening her doorway, smiling widely and holding his guitar case in his hands. His dark, curly hair was more unruly than ever, and he was wearing his signature pink Wayfarers on his eyes. She grinned back at him and placed a hand on her hip.

"Darren! What are you doing here?" Meredith was very surprised to see her old StarKid friend there, and he just grinned wider at her.

"Can I come in?" He motioned into her apartment, and Meredith blushed light pink, opening the door wider and stepping aside so Darren could enter the room. As he passed by her, she backed up into the door as much as possible to avoid touching him, not wanting to have her old feelings return back when he was probably in a relationship with someone in L.A.

"Wow, it's really nice in here." Darren set his things down behind the couch and looked around the small apartment, smiling softly at the little touches of Meredith he could see poking out here and there. He moved to a bookshelf just behind the couch and perused through the books she had hidden in there, not hearing the door close. Meredith came in from the doorway to see Darren looking at her books and she quickly shooed him away from the bookshelf, motioning for him to sit on the couch.

"Yeah, I guess it's not that bad." She shrugged and sat down in the smack middle of the small couch, causing Darren to sit extremely close to her so he wouldn't fall off (not like he minded any, though). "I could've done better though."

They both sat through an awkward silence, running out of things to say, and Meredith looked at the clock.

_11:07 A.M._

She sighed heavily and then Darren suddenly stood up. She was slightly surprised but used to Darren doing strange things. "We should make a fort!" Meredith could only look at Darren in confusion, not sure what he was up to, and he took her hands, pulling her up to a standing position. "Mere, where are you spare blankets?"

"Why are we making a blanket fort, Dare?" Meredith stopped him with a hand on his chest and he sighed dramatically.

"Because it's fun, and I'm not gonna be here for long. Now come on, let's go!" She nodded and pulled Darren towards the closest closet, where all of the blankets were stored. As soon as Meredith opened the door of the closet, Darren pulled out as many of the thinner blankets as he could, and he handed Meredith a stack of them.

"Where are we going with these?" She raised an eyebrow and he just grinned at her.

"My dear Meredith, I know you always like having an empty room in your apartments. So I'm heading towards where I know it'll be!" Darren led the way to the back of her apartment, and he opened the door to a bright white room that was completely empty. He dropped the blankets onto the ground and Meredith copied him, not sure what she was doing because she had never done this before.

"What do we do next?" Meredith asked him, and he gave her an incredulous look.

"Have you never made a blanket fort before?" He raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head. Seeing this, he gasped and place a hand on his chest, and then he took her hand. "We need four chairs, a bunch of safety pins and rubber bands, and a crap load of pillows!" Meredith giggled and led him into the small kitchen, letting go of his hand to pick up two chairs. Darren followed her lead, picking up the other two chairs, and they both went back into the empty room. She quickly ran into her room to get safety pins and rubber bands and she handed them to Darren.

"Now, here's how this works." He said. "You take two blankets and safety pin them together, to create a big long blanket." Meredith nodded and took some of the safety pins from him to hold, and she moved around to the other side of the blankets. They both held up the end pieces of two blankets and started pinning them together.

"I'm learning how to make a blanket fort today. It's somewhat exciting!" Meredith giggled as she opened her last safety pin, and as she threaded it through the end pieces of the blanket, she poked her finger. "Oh fuck!" She hadn't thought that she had poked it that hard, but she looked down at her finger to see that it was bleeding. Not wanting to get blood onto the blanket, she dropped it and looked at her thumb with a frown on her face. Darren saw this and finished the last safety pin he was putting on before going over to her.

"You okay Mere?" He asked, and she shook her head, holding her finger out to him. Darren frowned and tutted. "Ouch, babe, that's gotta hurt." Before Meredith could do or say anything about getting a band-aid, he lowered his mouth to her finger, and he licked up all of her blood and the small poke she had gotten from the safety pin. Meredith could only watch in slight fascination as his tongue darted back into his mouth, and then he straightened up, grinning widely. Darren pulled a band-aid from his pocket and put it on her tiny wound before grinning widely.

"Thanks." Her voice came out in a breathy gasp and he winked at her before pulling away, showing her how to set up the rest of the blanket fort, and they fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"Hey Dare?" Meredith looked over at him as she was tying a rubber band around the blanket on the chair, and he looked up from his task of putting weights on the blanket.

"Yeah Mere?" He raised an eyebrow and Meredith finished tying the rubber band. She started putting weights on her side of the blankets and then asked her question.

"How long until you have to go back to Los Angeles?" Meredith was hoping he'd say a few days, but she knew that he would never say that unless it was the summer. Still, he hesitated before answering her question, and he had picked up a bunch of pillows.

"I go back tomorrow." He said sadly, and he threw the pillows into the fort before looking back at her. He continued speaking in a more cheerful tone. "So it looks like you're stuck with me for 24 hours!" Darren grinned widely at Meredith, and she smiled back, somehow able to ignore the butterflies in her stomach at this news.

24 hours was going to go by very slowly.

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**Hope y'all enjoyed it, and remember, if you want me to write something for you, just PM me the deets!**

**~Lady Legend**


	2. Mario Kart Tournament

**So here's the second chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Darren Criss, Meredith Stepien, Team StarKid, or Mario Kart. Sigh, the life of a writer...**

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_Noon_

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Darren finished putting the pillows on top of the blankets in their blanket fort and he grinned widely.

"Hey Mere, did you find any fluffy blankets?" He called out from the blanket fort, expecting Meredith to reply, but there was no answer, only silence. He frowned and crawled out of the blanket fort to see that he was in a completely empty room. "Mere?"

"I'm...I'm coming!" Meredith's voice sounded strained, and Darren went out into the hallway to see her trying to carry the giant tv in the room. He quickly took it from her hands and carried it into the room.

"Now, as much as I love tv, why exactly are you moving it in here?" Darren raised an eyebrow and Meredith smiled widely.

"We are going to have a Mario Kart tournament!" She squealed and ran to get the Wii. Darren nodded in understanding and placed the tv on the ground, right in front of a wall plug fit for the cords. Luckily, this spot was in front of one of the openings in the blanket fort, so they would be able to sit in the fort and play the racing game.

"I've got this plugged in already, Mere, so just bring in the wifi and the controllers!" Darren yelled out to Meredith and she got the two controllers with the console, entering the room with her hands filled.

"Got it!" She kneeled down and helped Darren put the Wii in a good spot, and Meredith plugged it into the tv. She handed him the hot pink controller and he frowned.

"Hey, why do you get the black one?" Darren whined, and Meredith had to hold back a giggle. "I don't want the girlie one!" She giggled and pointed to his sunglasses, which were now resting on top of his hair.

"You've got girlie sunglasses, Dare. I wouldn't complain if I were you." She ruffled his hair and the sunglasses fell to the ground, but neither of them noticed it as their eyes were locked together in an intense gaze. Meredith couldn't look away from his smouldering eyes, and she thought she saw something flash in them, but before she could try and figure out what it was, Darren cleared his throat, and with difficulty, they both tore their eyes away from each other, looking down at the ground.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Meredith almost shouted and she stood up quickly, running into the kitchen. "Dare, come help me!" Darren sighed dramatically and he stood up, walking towards the kitchen. As soon as he entered the kitchen, Meredith shoved a few bags of chips, Red Solo cups, and a 2 litre bottle of Coke into his arms.

"What is all this?" He looked at what she was carrying, and Meredith shooed him towards the empty room.

"We are going to have a Mario Kart tournament while eating junk food for lunch! Like we always used to do!" She held tightly onto the giant bag of chips and the random bags of various chocolates and candies and dropped them all in front of the tv as soon as they entered the room. Darren set down the soda carefully and dropped the rest of the food on the ground, taking a spot on a pillow inside of the blanket fort. Meredith sat down next to him on another pillow and grabbed her remote, turning on the Wii.

"This is gonna be so much fun!" Darren said, and she nodded in agreement, nudging his arm with her elbow gently.

"Don't forget, I get first dibs on a character since this is my game!" Meredith stated, and he groaned.

"But you know Peach is my favorite character, Mere!" He whined and crossed his arms, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout, and she poked his bottom lip gently.

"Oh stop it, you can be Daisy. I finally unlocked her!" Meredith squealed and Darren huffed, resorting himself to the lesser awesome princess.

"Fine, I'll be Daisy." Darren said, but as soon as the character screen came up, he immediately chose Peach, and Meredith groaned.

"Not cool, Dare!" She said with a frown, and Darren laughed as she chose Donkey Kong, the manliest character out of the whole bunch. They fought over which course to play first, and then they both decided on Rainbow Road, a racing course that both were horrifyingly terrible at.

"Haha, I got a head start!" Meredith taunted as they started, and then she fell off of the edge. "Shit." She shook her head as she was dropped onto the course in last place, and Darren laughed at her, only to get pushed off of the course by Meredith.

"Hey! That's no fair!" He frowned and tried to catch up but completely missed an item box—his only chance—and Meredith laughed.

"It's Mario Kart, smart ass." She retorted and gained a cannon from her item box. She cheered as she rocketed from 11th to 3rd and Darren groaned. "There's literally no way you can cheat in Mario Kart, Dare. You of all people should know that, you've tried and failed ultimately before." Darren picked this time to unleash his cannon from an item box he had just found, and he ran Meredith's character over.

"How you like me now?" He taunted her as he got into first, and he finished the race three minutes later, Meredith frowning at her huge fail.

"Dammit Darren!" She threw her controller on the ground and Darren laughed at her. She hit him with a pillow, and then stood up, running away from him.

"Oh, it's on!" He stood up and chased after her with a pillow, and she squealed, running around the apartment. They were both laughing and Meredith ran back into the room with the blanket fort, tripping over a bag of chips and falling onto the ground. Darren saw this and took it to his advantage.

"Come here Meredith!" He fell to the ground on top of her and started poking her sides, causing Meredith to laugh.

"No! Stop, Dare!" She laughed loudly and Darren found himself laughing with her, and after a few minutes they were both out of breath, laying down on their backs and looking up at the ceiling.

"That was fun." Darren whispered, and Meredith nodded her agreement, resting her hands down at her sides. Her hand brushed his and she started to pull hers away, but Darren placed his hand on hers to stop its movement. She looked at him in slightly confusion, and he grinned at her, threading their fingers together.

"Dare." She whispered, slightly confused as to what was happening between them, and he rested his other hand on her cheek, smiling her worries away. They both leaned in closer, ready for the kiss that they knew was inevitable...

**BRIIIIIIIIING!**

Darren's iPhone rang loudly, and it startled both of them. They backed away from each other on the floor with a bit of difficulty and blushed pink, not able to look at each other.

"I have to take this." Darren stood up and pressed a button on his phone. "Hello?" As he walked out of the room, this assumption only made by the sound of his voice getting softer, Meredith stood up on shaking legs, and she took in a deep breath.

"What just happened?" She blinked for a moment and then smiled. She almost kissed Darren! She shook her head, trying to get that idea out of her head, and then looked at her watch.

_12:57 P.M._

Meredith sighed, not sure what to do at the moment, and then she walked into her room with a brilliant idea, putting on her shoes and her jacket.

Darren walked by her room towards the empty room and then stopped to look at her. "What are you doing Mere?" Darren looked extremely confused, but Meredith didn't care. She just grinned at him and passed by him, headed towards the front door.

Put your shoes on, Dare." She said, grabbing a small and obviously almost broken umbrella, and he frowned, but he put his shoes on anyway. "We are going on a little shopping trip."

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**Most of this chapter was written on my phone and I just tweaked a few parts here and there when I finally stopped being a lazy ass and uploaded it onto the laptop. I must say, I am impressed with how I'm doing.**

**~Lady Legend**


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